The Burden of Future
by MidnightBloom15
Summary: Say you were given a second chance to living your life. Many would wait for the future to happen, but not her. This time, things were going to be different.../ Sakura-centered fanfic.
1. Chapter 1

Well hello, strangers! Nice to … sense you on this lovely lovely day! ( Well, at least at my place it is…).

This is a little present to Sakura fans (like myself :D), but don't run away, dear, 'cause I'm about to make it happen and do this magic trick called "OOC"! So, yeah…

Disclaimer: If I owned Naruto … Yeah, "if" I owned, so don't sue me, people!

Enjoy!:)

* * *

The Burden of Future

~Chapter 1~

It was quite a shock for her the moment she was oh-so-fast ejected from the cozy little pace she had hidden in for the past few months. She was confused as to where she was supposed to be now, and, most definitely, why all those people kept passing her from one another like she was some kind of unfortunate basketball in the middle of a game. She felt the need to express her frustration, so she did the usual thing a healthy baby would the second they were born: she started screaming her lungs out like there was no tomorrow, barely noticing the warmth that was slowly embracing her. She, then, refrained to a simple whimper the moment she heard that rhythmic beat right next to her, that soothing sound that followed her since her very creation. She instinctively opened her eyes, revealing a pair of deep blue irises, color that was to develop later into the most astonishing viridian, vibrant with life and confidence.

* * *

Her first few years of life weren't as exciting as she'd expected them to be. It took her a tremendous amount of time to finally roll on her belly, get up and start walking like the other human beings surrounding her. It took another couple of months for her vocal chords to finally settle and let her speak her mind, moment she found extremely important as she was finally free of that annoying state of … "babyness". Having already passed the important age of three, she was set on growing up faster, so she would not loose time like she did in her other life.

….

….

"… Wait a second, what the heck is she talking about?" was the obvious question passing everyone's mind.

Well, yes, this seemingly harmless baby, with innocent forest green eyes and pale rosy hair, was, in actuality, a not so surprising reincarnation. Of whom, you ask? Well, Kami was kind enough to let the same soul enter its own body again, as a second chance to life. Rarely did it happen to a soul to remain with its previous experiences vivid in its essence. The actual memories took a bit of time to be fully revived, but now they were as clear as if this holy transfer never even happen. Sakura knew this unbelievably freakish thing had happened so that she could change something about that horrid future she'd lived, so finally being able to move freely, without her legs and arms and tongue getting entangled at every second, was truly relieving. Of course, she had to pretend to being a toddler in thinking and acting, but still, she couldn't be happier. Now she could become the badass she'd always wished to become and save the world! ... that after the afternoon nap 'cause she was already tired from too much thinking.

* * *

At first, she was quite in a dilemma as to how she was supposed to explain her sudden desire to hit logs and throw knives at innocent puppets, but, in the end, she just told the truth about her wishing to become a ninja, fact easily accepted by her parents, but not without being a tad surprised at her ambition coming at such an early age. She had her plan neatly structured in her mind, as to what and in which way she could improve her physical performance faster as her knowledge was left untouched and didn't need any improvements, as for now.

She started slowly, as not to make the others suspicious of her sudden development and not to pass her body's limits too much, as it was still fragile and weak, not really suited yet to her current plans. Yet the minimum was required: every day, she would run for an hour in the morning as a warm-up and then she would start the standard taijutsu training they taught at the Academy in the first year. Unconsciously, she started molding chakra to her hands and legs whenever she would practice her kicks and hits, but she would soon get tired as her chakra reserves had only grown to the size of those of a seven years old, even though she was now four.

* * *

Constant training for over three years in both taijutsu and chakra molding got her confident enough to start combining the two and finally, to start practicing ninjutsu and genjutsu. She couldn't, though, do jutsus too elaborated or the ones that required a larger quantity of chakra as she wasn't ten yet, the age at which the usual chakra reserves grow exponentially, so she had to stick to the basics and improve those to their maximum. She'd tried getting a few scrolls on D-ranked jutsus, but she soon realized that she was practically a civilian, at least in books, it said. That was a major impediment, especially in her ninjutsu development, but she couldn't do anything about it. Students at the Academy were allowed entrance in the library, but it was another year until she was of age. She could've entered sooner, but she knew the future she remembered would be instantly altered if she was to finish earlier than Rookie 9, so she decided on continuing her training at home.

Her parents were amazed by here mere determination and were more than happy seeing her train so hard in order to become a ninja, them themselves being shinobi in the first place. They helped her more than once with her training, giving her many useful pieces of advice, coming from their years of experience, and even sparring with her on some occasions, thing which didn't often happen in her previous life. The answer came as soon as she put the question, as in her first years of life, she wasn't that thrilled at the idea of becoming a ninja. But now was different. She couldn't just waste precious time of peace and quiet; she had to improve as much as she could.

She thought about her somewhat current future, the one she was building at that moment, and she realized that she would gain so much more time as she has already gotten the information she needed; so, that huge amount of time that she had spent learning the laws of being a shinobi and, later on, the thick medical books read in order to become a medic-nin, could be used, in this life, in a different, possibly more useful way.

* * *

Already dressed up for the new day, Sakura was walking down the stairs, already feeling the mouthwatering scent of her mother's food prepared for breakfast. A strange feeling, though, washed over her, like something from the whole equation was missing. In the end, she dismissed it, reaching the kitchen and preparing her cheerful "Good morning!" towards her parents, only to see the room empty. Her look, filled with confusion, scanned the room once more, only to find a note neatly put on the table, near what seemed her previously prepared breakfast. Reading it, she understood that her parents had been called on another mission, one which was supposed to last a couple of weeks, at least. It wasn't much of a surprise finding out that she was to be completely alone for the next few days, this thing having already happened a couple of times, ever since she was a baby. Of course, back then, they would hire a nanny of some sort to take care of her, but now it was no longer necessary. Plus, even if they had hired one to do that, none would have had taken the offer, as she was widely known for her fierce temper, double personality and excellent aim regarding all kinds of objects: shoes, forks, cups, plates (of course, except knives, 'cause, you know, what sick minded person leaves a knife in front of a child, a baby nonetheless?). Well, what to do when they annoyed the craaa...bs out of her (kids aren't allowed to swear) whenever they would stop her from doing her training, saying it was too dangerous and that she couldn't do it anyway at that age? They weren't so reticent about her abilities after she'd poked their posteriors a few times…

She sat at the table and started eating, not wanting to lose any more time having reminiscences of the past. Drinking her tea, though, she thought about that strange feeling she had when on the stairs, the feeling that something was missing from her surroundings. She didn't give it a lot of thought as she knew that it was her parents' chakra that was out her reach. She stopped in her tracks, analyzing this little piece of information that could have been easily set aside in any other circumstance.

'If I were to develop my chakra sense…', she thought deeply,'…it wouldn't help me with anything', she concluded, continuing her meal.

'**You're kind of wrong, you know?..', **said a sudden voice, making Sakura spill her tea in a wonderful, colorful rain. There was even a small rainbow over there…

"What the heck, Inner?! I thought I got rid of you this time!" Sakura shouted .

'**Oh, how cute! I knew you'd be surprised! By the way, you don't have say out loud what you're thinking, it's really annoying hearing the same thing twice!'**, her infamous Inner responded, making Sakura frown in displeasure. She realized then what her other self said before.

"Wait, what do you mean by that?", she said in a daze.

'**Wow, girl, it seems you're even dumber than you're previous self. What happened, tried to crack a wall with your head and didn't work? Or maybe it did…'**

'What the…? No, I mean what about chakra sense and stuff..'

'**Ah, you see, it helps.'**

'What does?'

'**Chakra sense, you egg!'**

'HOW ?'

'**I don't know..', **she answered sheepishly,**'.. but think about it: knowing the exact position of your enemy can't be that bad, can it?..'**

'Well, I guess you do have a point here..'

'**Of course I do. Now stop thinking too deeply, you've already put your elbow in the food.'**

"AH, SHI…"

'**Ah ah aah, language darling!'**

'Oh, shut up!'

* * *

That's it for now, folks! If you have ANYTHING you want to tell me, either being how cool my…beginning was (oh yeah!) or how crappy it seemed ( don't worry, I don't mind, I actually need those to improve), please don't be afraid to review!

See you next time!


	2. Chapter 2

The Burden of Future

~Chapter 2~

Oh my God, hello friends!

Being so bright and hippy after a well-deserved afternoon nap, I thought I might as well post another chapter to see how it goes.

Disclaimer: Once upon a time there was a guy named Kishimoto. Don't know if you've heard of him…

* * *

She could feel her senses heightening bit by bit as she became so much conscious of her surroundings. Alone as her parents were still on the mission, she refrained to increasing her chakra sense by identifying the people passing on the street. Sitting near the front gate, she could even hear their pace, hastened or slow, balanced or with a slight limp, but… that was all she could tell, really. Although she was aware of their presence, she couldn't locate it by the use of chakra. It was much much harder than she'd expected it to be, but she still continued with it. After a few days, she realized that maybe, by cutting off her other senses, she would be able to focus more on detecting the signatures and indeed, it worked. Two days later, she caught a slight glimpse of chakra at the edge of her range, but it was still there. A wide grin appeared on her previously concentrated face and she couldn't help but jump around and do a little dance.

"'Cause I'm happy…" she started singing only to be interrupted by a not so sweet voice.

'**Oi! What do you think you're doing? I know you have lungs, you don't have to prove it to me! Pff, messing up my ears…'**

'Oh, come on, you're just being jelly!'

' **Of what? Of how, if I was in control, I would have finished it in two days and not two WEEKS like you, melon? I don't know, it hasn't really crossed my mind …'**

"But I see your true colors…"

'**Bite me!'**

'Don't really wa..', but Sakura didn't get to finish her thought as someone opened the gate, entering the porch.

'It seems Mom and Dad are finally home…'

"Hi, honey, I missed you so so much!" her mother exclaimed, embracing her only daughter in a warm but way too tight embrace.

"I missed you too, Mom, but right now, I miss air even more…" Sakura answered, barely breathing.

"Oh, sorry… How was it? Did you sleep well? What did you eat? Please tell me you took your vitamins!"

"Good. Yes. What was in the fridge and Yes. Now, I need to ask you a little favor."

"That being…"

"You know how I'm always a good girl and I listen to you and dad…"

"Yes?..."

" …and how proud you are with what I do and know at this age…"

"Sakura…"

"Could you please buy me some weights?"

"No."

"Oh, come on! Pretty please!" said Sakura, displaying her puppy eyes so that they shone in the sun brightly.

"Absolutely not."

" But why? You already know I'm way stronger than any girl or even boy my age and you know I know when to stop so that I don't hurt myself!"

"…. Honey, could you come here for a moment?" her mother called towards the house but still keeping eye contact with Sakura.

'Oh, brother…'

'**Hey, brother…'**, a voice sang in her head, which she totally ignored.

"Something happened?" her father asked cautiously, coming towards them. 'God, that temper of their…' .

"Sakura wants to start training with weights." her mother briefed him.

"So? Let her do it." her father shrugged nonchalantly, not seeing the problem in this whole situation.

"What do you mean "let her"? You know how dangerous it can get if not in the right hands!"

"Honey," her father's features softened, " I know you just want to protect her, but she'll do fine. It's not like we're not around to guard her, anyway…".

'I just love when people talk like I'm not around…' Sakura thought, a little frustrated at the current conversation.

Her mother pondered over the facts, her expression, though, not once faltering. After giving it some thought, she finally agreed with buying her the weights.

"YESSSS!" the girl said, starting a new session of jumping and singing at the same time.

"But!" her mother said, making Sakura stop in her very tracks.

….

….

"….I don't know, just don't overdo it, okay?" her mother said, giving in.

"Thanks, mom, and don't, worry, I'll be safe!"

* * *

'OH, DAMN, THEY'RE SO HEAVY!'

'**You got into this on your own, princess…', **the floating head in her mind retorted, a mischievous smirk on its/her lips.

'Oh, you nailed it with your comeback! Good job, can't say I'm proud of you!'

'**Shut up and suffer!'**

"Doesn't this thing have a weight button or something?" Sakura cried, stuck on the ground with no way of moving.

"Here, let me fix it a bit…" her father said….fixing it.

"Ah, much better..." Sakura said after her father made it so that now she was able to stay up. That until her legs faltered and she hit the ground, elegantly falling on her butt.

"Ouch, maybe not that much better..." she retorted, tendering at her bruised back.

"I got to go now, honey. Still haven't given the mission report yet, so I can't really stay with you right now..." her father said, a sad smile plastered on his face.

"Don't worry, I'll manage by myself! Now go, you don't want to be late!" his loving daughter answered, giving him one of her best smiles.

* * *

As soon as her father left, she tried standing up and moving around a bit, managing to do this only after her third try. Her body gotten somewhat used to the extra weight, she tried some taijutsu, only to fall completely exhausted after just ten minutes of practice. They say muscle fever appears after 24 hours? Well, here she was, sore all over her body like she'd never been before, and that in just a few minutes. She was sitting on the floor, panting heavily, when she decided to give a try in healing herself at least a bit. The green chakra flickered instinctively, but when she put her hand on her thigh to ease the pain, the effect was one unexpected and extremely painful. Either it was her control that faltered or the fact that she didn't transform the energy flow correctly, in the end, she got herself with a serious chakra burn on her leg that had already started to bleed. She deactivated her weights, them dropping on the floor, and tripped to the bathroom to grab the first aid box. If she didn't stop the bleeding, it would get serious enough for her to go to the hospital, and she had no intention in doing so. After the danger had passed, she thought over the causes from which this thing had happened. It never occurred to her in her past life, but she guessed it might have happened because of her age, too. Even though her chakra control was almost perfect, it seemed an almost 7 years old's chakra was to brute for something so delicate as the healing process. Well, it seemed she wasn't going to be the youngest doctor after all….

* * *

The next few days were quite the same, the routine only being temporary interrupted by a local festival which took place every year before the beginning of winter. Her family being one that followed tradition thoroughly, they all decided to get out and celebrate with the others. Neatly dressed in it, Sakura wore a light green kimono, which complimented her eyes greatly. Walking hand in hand with her parents, she gazed at the overall view: hundreds, maybes thousands of people walking down the street, dressed in various colors that went so well with the breathtaking decorations put over their heads. She laughed happily, letting go for a moment to all her worries and being an actual child. Her smile didn't last too much on her, though, as saw, right in front of her, something distressing: a child Sasuke giggling cheerfully on his brother's back, their parents following behind them. The massacre didn't happen yet, indeed, but there wasn't much time left until it took place, anyway. Sakura looked sorrowfully at the little boy's joyful expression knowing that, in a couple of months, he would forget completely how to smile…

She had to do something about it. She couldn't let it happen this way, not this time…

* * *

This is it, guys/girls! Hope you liked it! :D

Don't forget to R&R! (although this doesn't make sense, as you've already read the chapter… that unless you went directly to the author's note, which is not that likely… Ok, I'll stop.)


	3. Chapter 3

The Burden of Future

~Chapter 3~

So we meet again, fellas! (takes out gun and shots randomly)….Man, the cowboy image really doesn't suite me

Anyways, hugs and kisses to all of you guys that support me! Here is the third chapter, hope you enjoy! :D

Disclaimer:

"I'm gonna ask one last time", the creepy guy whispered in a low voice, leaning towards me,"… do you own Naruto?"

"For God's sake, no! Just let me go already!".

* * *

Seeing him so happy was truly refreshing, as it was a once in a lifetime opportunity to see an Uchiha smile and, really, once in 10 generations chance to see one laugh wholeheartedly. She followed him around in a protective matter, but didn't really approach him (or them) as to not seem suspicious of such sudden interest. Half an hour later, Sakura still dragging her parents around following the route taken by the infamous Sharingan users, she saw the perfect occasion for her to finally meet the young Uchiha: the said family stopped in front of a game held outdoors, one which involved aiming and hitting targets to win a certain prize. The two brothers occupied their spots, leaving one opened right beside them.

'**Fly, bird, fly! Go, before it's too late!'**, a voice expressed itself loud and clear in her head.

'Got it!' and she fled… or hoped to do so, but it didn't really happen. The street was so crowded that she could barely squeeze herself out of it and, of course, on the wrong side as well. She looked around, seeing how even more people started gathering around the Uchiha clan's prodigies, wanting to see their performance. Unfortunately, she also spotted a pretty compact group of fangirls who were making their way towards the front way too fast to seem legit. Seeing this, Sakura looked up and decided to fly… Pumping a slight amount of chakra in her legs, she jumped over the whole gathering and landed neatly on the roof on the other side, the empty seat right under her nose. She leapt on it, surprising the others with her sudden appearance. She turned around and smiled at the two boys, gesture returned only by Sasuke, even though in a slightly more cautious way. She looked at her weapons, pondering over which one she should use and picked the kunai-like one with no other reservations. She chose the Ninja Option and waited patiently for the other ones to pick as well. Yes, of course there was Ninja Option, what did you expect in a village full of them?It wasn't such a good deal when a shinobi came, paid for three tries and won all the prizes in one shot, leaving behind a crying owner while he or she left hopping on the road with their arms full of fluffiness.

Anyhow, seeing as the others had already made the decision, the game began, all players ready and concentrated. It was a piece of cake hitting all those targets, although their speed was much higher than the initial one put on them. She smiled happily, jumping up and down thinking about the first place prize she was about to get. She waited on the seat with her arm in front of her, ready to get that FLUFFY PANDA BEAR (**'Calm down, honey'**) exposed for the winner. Unfortunately, that didn't happen… at all.

"But I didn't miss any of those targets! Why can't I get it?" Sakura asked, frustrated at the situation, totally forgetting why she'd gone there in the first place.

"I would have given it to you, dear, but these two gentlemen had also hit all the targets. You three will just have to compete to see which one gets it, that's all!"

The crowd moved in excitement, having followed the youngsters' movements and already making bets on who was going to win.

"1000 yen on the older guy. He seems quite good!"

"Yeah, put me in as well! 700 yen. The other two don't stand a chance!" said a man, whose comment wasn't taken too lightly by a now frowning Sasuke.

"Come on, have some variety, people! I bet on the pinky one right there, 600."

"Who're you calling pinky?" Sakura grumbled under her breath.

"You're right, the old one is obviously rusty! 800 on the little raven haired!"

She caught Itachi sweatdropping in the corner, but otherwise, letting it pass.

"Ready?" the owner asked, having already replaced the targets.

"Yes!" answered three voices, one excitedly, one confidently and the other completely indifferently, and the start was given.

Their hands were a complete blur, throwing towards the now moving targets as soon as they came on sight. They held it like that for a few minutes, none of them wanting to lose, but right when Sakura was feeling a little sting in her right arm, Sasuke's last shuriken didn't put its target down, leading to him losing the game. Although this happened, she and Itachi continued their throws: her, because by giving up, there was no chance she would make a real impression on those two and him, because he couldn't bare seeing his little brother's frown whenever it was put on display.

A couple more minutes passed and then another few did without notice and that's when her arm started aching. Her soreness from weight training was making her movements slower, weaker, making her aim to waver. That's when she felt how one of the shuriken was released a bit to early than expected and how the trajectory didn't match perfectly the one towards the target. A second later, the game stopped with Itachi being the winner. The crowd cried happily at the victory, a few grunts and complains being clearly distinguishable despite the general noise. She looked at the older sibling getting the huge panda in his hands and passing it to Sasuke. To her surprise, he willingly accepted the gift, despite having the Uchihas' infamous pride running through his … mind, soul, whatever.

"… You did well." the older brother said to Sakura, taking her by surprise.

"T..thank you," she stuttered, mentally slapping herself at her behavior.

"Yeah, you did really well," Sasuke then said, again making her wonder how messed up he must have actually been after the massacre he was so…normal before.

"Can't say you didn't do a fine job yourself," she answered, smiling warmly at him.

* * *

They spent the rest of the night together, Sakura silently observing how well the two got along with their parents and such, forgetting for a moment their unfortunate future outcome. She was sure she even caught a loving gaze coming from Itachi towards his little brother as he was stuffing his face happily with street treats, trying his hardest to look like a squirrel with his rosy puffy cheeks.

On their way home, long after parting with the two brothers, she was still smiling a soft, subtle smile, one which remained plastered on her face even after she went to bed, turning off the lights and making herself comfortable so that she fell asleep. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, the grin still tugging at her lips. Thinking of that day, she pondered over the sudden realization she had had not too long ago and, for a moment there, her smile faltered before completely disappearing as she was falling into slumber.

* * *

That's it for now, folks! I'll post the next chapter a little earlier than the others as I don't want you to forget what had happened on this one (earlier meaning like...an hour?:D). See you later, then and don't forget to… express yourself, if in need!:D


	4. Chapter 4

The Burden of Future

~Chapter 4~

Hello, people! Here is the 4th/3rd-but-not-really-the-3rd chapter of this fic. It was an interesting one to write so hope you like it!

Disclaimer: Read the name of this site. Ok, now separate the first three letters from the rest.

Cool, right? ...

* * *

She opened her eyes slowly, them still heavy from the deep sleep she had fallen into last night. It was a dreamless sleep, thing that didn't happen to her too often as she was always thinking about ways of changing the future, even unconsciously. That reminded her of yesterday and her time spent with the two Uchiha brothers, thought that her made her smile go up again on her sun lit expression. Soft rays of sunshine would land on her cheeks and eyes, waking her up to get ready for the day. She got up and followed her morning routine, making it all as soundless as possible. It wasn't out of discretion that she was so silent at that moment, but over time she realized that even that could be considered training, contributing to her stealth abilities, much needed in a shinobi's life.

The smile from when she woke up was still plastered on her face, however in a way that it seemed she wasn't the one actually doing it, but more like the corners of her mouth were pulled up by some invisible force, her not minding it at all. Inner already knew what it was all about and she knew not to intervene, even if she felt the need to.

Sakura was leaning slightly against the door to the backyard, putting on her weights and at the same time enhancing them with chakra to become a little bit heavier, as she did every day. After finishing her warm-up she went straight to the training logs to start her kicks and hits on them. She started slowly to get her body used to it and gradually increasing the speed. Her oxygen reserves having long finished with her strenuous work-out, she was now breathing heavily, the air coming in and out her burning lungs at a rapid pace. After 20 minutes, the endorphins started releasing, making her heart race with excitement as her sore muscles were getting numb. She was so concentrated on her practice she didn't even notice the heavy pang in her chest.

'It's just the drugs wearing of,' she thought, but Inner remained silent.

Sweat was flowing in streams on her forehead, on her cheeks, making strands on her hair get stuck annoyingly to her skin. But then, the cheeks started getting even wetter and her sight got blurred for a moment in the rush. In no time, a sob escaped her lips and she fell on her knees, head held low.

Her body started shaking and sudden spots of dampness appeared on her thighs and hands, which were held loosely, unmoving. It didn't take long until it happened: she started crying, her hand now held to her mouth to stop her whimpers from hearing. Her eyes were closed shut, her crying getting so heavy she could barely breathe. Everything around her went still; she couldn't hear, she couldn't smell, she couldn't see, only her hands could feel the never ending flow of tears on her eyes. Inner stood silent and motionless, but was secretly sending warm vibes of comfort to wash over Sakura's body, hoping to at least calm her down. The only thing they actually did was to make Sakura stop taking in such sharp breaths so that she could she could whisper in a voice too soft for others to hear:

"I can't…", she said, her eyes now empty of emotion, but still glassy with tears.

"I… I can't save them," she muttered again, her hands clutching tightly on her thighs with her nails digging deeply in her palms so that she wouldn't faint right there.

"You know…", she said to her inner self, "… deep down, I've somewhat always hoped that Itachi had killed his family out of hate, that he … that he had left Sasuke alive just for the fun of seeing him destroy himself over hate and revenge…" she continued, her tears once again making her vision blurry.

"Why?..." she said to herself, her shoulders shaking again with each shallow breath.

"Why did he have to be human?... Why did he have to care? WHY..." she screamed, leaning forward and hitting her head hard on the ground, "…. Does he love them so much?...".

She'd seen him completely emotionless and ignorant around the others, so why was there such a loving feeling whenever he looked at his little brother? Why did he seem happy when around them?

It would have been so much easier for her… Although she already knew that the massacre was planned as a mission, she'd still hoped he was the one at guilt. Why? Because it was so much easier to take down one person than to attack a compact group of powerful, untouchable people, whose believes were as hard as steel to change. She could stop the massacre from happening, yes, but not for ever. If Itachi didn't do it, they sure would have found somebody else to be able to. There was a time when even telling the clan about it was an option, one that been disengaged as soon as thought of. Them starting a war against the village was the worst outcome possible, so it was out of discussion.

Plus, there was also the future… If she was to miraculously manage it, who knew how much of the future she knew would be changed along with it? Although she cared about Sasuke, deeply, she couldn't put him over the rest of the lives she could save by knowing the future exactly as it was to be.

"I'm sorry, Sasuke…", were her last words before starting to cry again, embracing herself on the cold winter ground.

* * *

Days passed without any more breakdowns as Sakura accepted the facts as they were. She still felt guilty for the deaths that were to come in now less than six months, but she had to live with it; she couldn't otherwise…

It was Friday morning when she decided she needed a much deserved break from all of it, so she went on a walk, one still full of sorrowful thoughts and regrets. She was strolling on the road alone, looking at people going on with their lives as there were no worries in the world for them to have. Her attention was then caught, though, by a seemingly big commotion happening just a few steps away from her, but she didn't even have time to wander about it as she suddenly stepped in something: something wet, sticky and really hard to remove once dried.

"WHO THE HELL'S PAINTING IN WINTER, FOR KAMI'S SAKE! GET A LIFE, PEOPLE!" she screamed, highly irritated at her newly renovated shoe. Few people stopped in their track to smirk at her, glad that they weren't the only ones to step in the pool of paint.

"HAHAHA! Catch me if you can, dattebayo!" a blur of orange passed, leaping on the roofs while flashing a toothy grin to the bewildered crowd of people. Sakura's eyes widened in disbelief, her body stiffen from the sudden shock.

"Na-Naruto?..." .

* * *

Yes! Naruto's here! Hope you guys liked reading this new chapter as much as I did writing it! I'll see you tomorrow with the next chapter! Till then, don't forget to review! Bye-bye! ;):D.


	5. Chapter 5

The Burden of Future

~Chapter 5~

Hello, my friends! Thanks for all your wonderful reviews! They really made my day! Here is the 5th chapter, enjoy! :D

Disclaimer: I thought I owned Naruto, but then I saw a pig fly and I realized it was just a dream.

* * *

"Na-Naruto?" Sakura said, surprised at seeing the blond-haired boy smiling happily at a crowd which wasn't exactly returning the gestures.

"There he is! Get him!" the men near the building he had landed on screamed. They ran towards him and jumped to climb the roof as well, only to fail miserably at it, all falling in a big human pile.

Sakura sweatdropped at the view, slightly amused at their antics but, glancing towards the rest of the people, she noticed that things were about to get serious. People were already getting their hands on different objects around them to throw at Naruto and she wasn't going to witness her future teammate get beaten to a pulp by a bunch of villagers. She jumped over the crowd, pulling the same move as the day of the festival, landed next to the boy, grabbed him and dashed away right before people started to actually throw the things in their hands. She stopped a few streets away from the whole disturbance and finally looked at her new companion. Naruto was, simply put, dumbfounded at her actions, his mouth opened agape for melons to fit in comfortably. She put her hand under his chin and closed his mouth with a shut.

"Flies might enter, dummy," she said, a soft smile painted on her lips. She studied his child-like features, unconsciously comparing them to the ones of his teen self: his face was still round with baby-fat, hiding his future angular structure from the view; his small nose and rosy full lips were perfectly aligned with his straight forehead, narrowed by loose strands of bright golden hair. Only his eyes were to remain the same: always wide in a rounded shape, with long sandy lashes and of the deepest blue she'd ever seen…eyes that always seemed happy, hiding the pain that they truly longed to express.

"BAAAAAAH, stop staring at me, you creep!" Naruto shouted, dispelling the magic of the moment and making Sakura land oh-so-elegantly on her butt.

"Ouch!... You! What do you think you're doing, screaming like that all of a sudden?"

"What do you want me to do when you were gazing at me for such a long time? I mean, I was okay after the first few minutes, but come on! Half an hour is enough already, 'ttebayo!..."

'What the…' Had she really stared at him for that long?

'**Bahahah, pinky, you nailed it this time!'** inner said, rolling on the floor while laughing uncontrollably. **'Now he thinks you're a total freak! High five!'.**

"Oh, sorry, you just….remind me of someone I know." Sakura answered, getting the dirt off her clothes. "Say…. wanna get some ramen?".

"What?", he asked, totally taken aback by her offer." You want to eat ramen… with me?"

"Why not? You seem quite nice. That unless you're actually a psychopath that attracts people into his territory and messes with their mind until they give in."

"Not exactly," Naruto grinned at her, happiness clearly sparkling in his azure eyes. " I'm Naruto."

"Sakura,"she smiled at him and both started walking towards the infamous ramen stand that everybody loved.

* * *

They were standing side by side, slurping at their noodles diligently while talking the most random things that crossed their mind.

"Which one would you want as a pet: a gorilla that can think, or a dog that can talk?" Sakura asked while chewing at her food.

'Chewy, chewy chewy...'.

"A dog that can talk," the answer came in an instant.

"Really? Why is that?"

Naruto stopped in his tracks, now staring blankly at his ramen.

"At least then I wouldn't be so alone…"

Sakura gulped loudly, cursing inwardly at herself.

'**Way to ruin the mood, you spoon!'**

'Spoon? Never heard this one before!'

'**It fits perfectly when you're eating ramen! Just look at you, you little mushy puffy pile of goo!'**

"Why did you save me?" Naruto asked all of a sudden, turning around and looking her straight in the eyes.

"B-Because you were in danger, that's why!" she answered, irritated at the thought. "..and no, I'm not afraid of you, if that's what you were going to ask.." her voice softened, observing his expression.

The surprised look on his face didn't last too long as it was replaced with what she knew was one of his largest smiles he could possibly pull.

"Thanks, Sakura-chan!" he said happily, returning to his old self. "Ano, Sakura-chan, can I ask you something?".

"Sure thing, Naruto! What is it?"

"How did you pull that awesome move from earlier? Could you teach it to me, pleeaaaaaaseee?" his puppy eyes entering into action.

"Y-Yes, of course!" and this is how she made herself with the promise of turning him into "the coolest ninja ever". From that moment on, every day they would have a training schedule of learning the basis of taijutsu and ninjutsu. Although she already knew those moves and tricks to the core, she actually improved her performance by training with him: not only the simple fact that training with another person made you learn how to adapt faster in a fighting situation, but also his stamina. Maaaaan, how could he practice for so many hours and still be able to stay on his feet? Fluffy was seriously messing around with his body….or maybe not.

* * *

They laid on the grass, eyes staring at the sky, while breathing heavily as a result of another hard session of training. She move her gaze on his tired-looking face (finally!), and looked at him closely as she was thinking of the past…or the future, as it was. She couldn't help but ponder over the strong bond that he and Sasuke had had all that time and how much it had influenced their lives. Naruto became so much stronger just to bring his teammate back and Sasuke didn't lose his last touch with reality as a result of their friendship.

… Maybe she could make it even solider… Maybe, if given more time, their friendship could become even deeper, even stronger, so that at least some of those emotional impacts that both were to experience could become less painful and distracting. Suddenly, she grabbed his hand, and gave it a strong squeeze, making a startled Naruto jump in surprise. Her gaze, now powerful, confident, stared at him right in the eyes and said with a defined certainty in her voice:

"Let's save Sasuke."

* * *

That's all for now, folks! See you next time with chapter numero 6! Don't forget to review, 'cause reviews are food and water for my little soul :D.


	6. Chapter 6

The Burden of Future

~Chapter 6~

Hello, my friends! Chapter 6 is out and about to make you enjoy your little self reading it!

Disclaimer:

"Naruto, do I own you?"

"No, you don't, dattebayo!"

"Good boy! Here's your ramen."

* * *

"Let's save Sasuke."

….

….

"….Who the heck is Sasuke?.."

'Ha?...Ah, right.. They'd met during the Academy… Bah, whatever.'

"Come on," she said, got up and dragged him by his hand. He didn't even have time to exclaim his protests that she dashed right away, taking the short way on the rooftops towards the Uchiha Manor. She almost forgot about the soreness in her body in the rush of the moment, but she was soon reminded of it as not even after a whole minute, she started panting heavily with her knees turning into literal goo. After finally getting to the Uchihas' neighborhood, Naruto, who had been following her diligently up until then, dared to finally ask:

"Sooo…. Why are we here?", the soft shadows of fatigue that were once on his face had finally disappeared, leaving only confusion visible on his expression.

"Ah, you see, there is this dude that…needs your help!" Sakura traced off, not really knowing how to put it.

'Why did I come here?' she asked even herself.

'**You know it's the wrong order: firstly you should ask yourself and THEN do the stupid thing. It's not that hard, really, but I guess we really are on a whole other level.'**, Inner said, flipping her magic invisible hair.

'Shut up, bubblehead!', she said, trying to concentrate on the chakra signatures around her. Closing her eyes, she expanded her range as she couldn't recognize anybody nearby. Right then she felt a faint presence, familiar to her now overly developed sense.

"Let's go," she said, again dragging a bored and tired Naruto after her. They entered a small forest surrounding the neighborhood, feature often met in Konoha, as its name expressed so clearly. They could see a glade a couple of feet away and for Sakura, the signature was as strong as it could get. She didn't go any closer, though, as should sense another presence around; one hidden, but still existing. She masked her chakra as much as she could, telling Naruto to stay at least silent, giving he wasn't really able to hide all that chakra residing in his guts. She sneaked behind a tree, carefully not to give away her position and took a peak at the clearing. There was Sasuke, standing on the deck of a small lake and doing several hand seals for what seemed like a fire style jutsu.

'Fire Ball Jutsu…What the heck, man? He's too small to do that kind of technique!'

'**Mhm, says the girl who's been trying reviving dead fish for over a year.'**

'Zip it, shrimpy!'

'**Pff, you're no fun.'**

Sakura didn't reply, though, as she was quite taken aback at the view in front of her: as soon as Sasuke put his fingers around his mouth, blazing fire escaped from in between, rolling over the lake into a huge ball of flames. It wasn't as big as she remembered it to be, but it was still way over the average abilities a boy his age should have. As the fire raged over the calm waters, the air began feeling heavier by each passing moment, the liquid evaporating from the lake rising in the atmosphere and making it hard to breath.

'**He sure won't get asthma with this kind of training…'**

She was so concentrated on her friend's performance that she didn't even notice the sudden shift in the air or the overwhelming presence that appeared out of nowhere right behind her.

"Hi," a voice ringed near her ear, making her jump out of her skin in surprise. She nearly attacked the freak that dared whisper in her ear but she calmed herself down as she saw who the person actually was.

"H-Hi, Itachi," she said, taken aback by his mere presence. It was really weird being so close to this infamous ninja who was to be one of the most feared S-ranked shinobi in the world. Yeah, it felt unnerving, really.

"Why are you here?" he asked, his expression as emotionless as ever.

"YEAH, SAKURA-CHAN, WHY ARE WE HERE?" Naruto screamed in her ear, thinking this way it was sure she was going to hear his question at least that time.

"AHHH, drop it down, baka! Why are you being so loud?"

"Oh, sorry, Sakura-chan!" he said smiling.

"Anyways, to answer your question, I was just paying a visit to you and Sasuke over there, since I haven't really seen you guys in weeks."

"OOOH, so that's Sasuke that we have to sa…" but he didn't get to finish that sentence as Sakura covered his mouth hastily, smiling sheepishly at Itachi.

"Hahaha, yes, Naruto, that is Sasuke that we have to, uh, say our greetings to. Come on, let's say hi!", she said and fled into the clearing to supposedly greet Sasuke.

"… Ok," Itachi said, not really trying to understand the situation.

Sakura ran towards the raven-haired boy and tackled him to the ground, laughing out loud after seeing his confused expression.

"Well, hello, Sasuke! I know I'm older than you but you don't have to show me THAT much respect," giggling at him as he was still in his knees in front of her.

"Hm, like 4 months even count…" the Uchiha heir frowned, making Sakura giggle even more.

"That was terrible, Sasuke," Itachi said from behind, a small tint of amusement dancing in his pitch black eyes."… It must have hurt your pride losing to a girl."

"Who're you calling girl?..." Sakura growled under her breath, glaring at the older sibling.

'**Yep, yep, I definitely see the logics in this question! Oh, wait, I don't.'**

"That's not true! She just took me by surprise, that's all! I could beat her up anytime!"

"You're such a gentleman, Sasuke…"

"Ano, Sakura-chan, can we go now? I'm hungry!" Naruto, intervened, glancing at the sky that started getting darker.

"Who are you?" the two brothers asked almost simultaneously.

"Ha? …Oh, right! I'm Uzumaki Naruto, your future Forth Hokage, believe it!"

…

"Naruto, there already is a Forth Hokage…" Sakura said, sweatdropping at his antics.

"Really? Then why is Jii-san still in charge?"

"Umm… the council likes number 3 more, so they kept it as it is!" Sakura said, not really wanting to start a history class at that moment.

"Oh, that explains a lot…" Naruto said, making everybody's hands have the sudden urge to meet their foreheads.

"Nii-san, can you spar with me one last time?", Sasuke asked, looking at his brother expectantly.

"… Five minutes, that's all." the older Uchiha answered, already getting in his fighting stance.

* * *

Sakura and Naruto went and sat aside, not wanting to disturb the whole training session. They barely had time to sit down that the fight had begun. She watched them closely, not moving a bit from her position as to not lose a single moment. She was hypnotized, but not by her teammate's performance, which she had seen plenty of time in her Gennin days. The way Itachi moved could have been easily compared to a dance: smooth, fluid movements that seemed to come to him as naturally as breathing were fascinating in their complicated combination, one that hid great power along speed and accuracy. His defense was flawless, with the occasional openings for his brother to take advantage of in order to improve.

She studied his every move, his every pace, connecting the dots in her mind to a certain fighting style. She found out it was actually a detailed mixture of styles, based mostly on the usage of speed in both offensive and defensive tactics. The fight finished swiftly with Itachi's obvious win and they separated ways to finally go home. As she was walking the opposite direction the two brothers had gone, she couldn't help herself but look back and look at their retreating figures. Itachi's chakra was again hidden cautiously, as it was in the forest when she first sensed him. His chakra was flowing steadily through his body, giving off his peaceful state of mind, but she couldn't miss the slight feeling of worry present in his general aura, feeling that made her tense, her expression stiff with gravity. She knew what that trivial sensation actually meant and she came to a conclusion right away, said assumption frightening her to no end.

'…And so it begins.'

* * *

Here it is, guys! Hope you'll reward my (cough)late(cough) chapter with your review!

See you next time!


	7. Chapter 7

The Burden of Future

~Chapter 7~

Hello, friends! Thanks for all the sweet reviews that you've written for the past few days. I was so happy reading them that my dad almost got a heart attack. Yeah, I guess screaming my lungs out and running around while he was sleeping wasn't such a good idea… Anyways, here's chapter 7.

Hope you enjoy!

Disclaimer: You. Yeah, you. Come here for a moment. You know the person who writes this story? She's not the owner. Yeah, I know, I was surprised too.

* * *

"Aaaaaaaaah!" the boy shouted, a frightened expression painted on his face. He was trying so hard to move, but there was no way out. His body, over which he had no control, was sinking slowly in what seemed like blackish sticky goo of some sort, in which he realized it was getting hard to breath. The fluid had already reached his chin and he thought that was the perfect moment to panic. Unfortunately for him, his body wouldn't listen so all that fright was building up in him, with no escape what so ever. When the liquid was so close to his mouth that he could literally feel its disgusting aroma, he did the last thing that crossed his mind in search of a ways to free himself out of it.

"Kai," and the illusion disrupted.

* * *

"I'm impressed, Naruto. That could be easily considered your record. You took only two hours for this one." Sakura said, smiling widely at her blue-eyed friend.

"Really?", a toothy grin appeared on the boy's face, suddenly lit by the news." Wow, I never thought I would get rid of one in less than 5 hours."

" Nice job, Naruto. Now let's put you back to sleep," his friend (whose hair looked so similar to a duck's ass) said, locking eyes with him and casting him into another genjutsu.

"Oh, man…" Naruto complained before passing out and falling into slumber. The other two moved him to a bench, so he wouldn't catch a cold with all the long hours spent on the ground.

"He needs his rest anyway," Sakura said, fixing the blonde's position on the bench. They've been putting him in and out of genjutsus for the past few days as all of them knew that was his noticeable weakness in a fight. At first, he couldn't even get out of it, despite being in it for more than 8 hours. It was also a break from taijutsu, a much needed one considering how he overexerted himself whenever he trained in it.

She looked at the boy's features, mildly traced with exhaustion and somewhat confusion, the latter most probably from the illusion he was experiencing at that moment.

"Want to spar?" Sasuke asked, not really speaking her direction.

"Yes," she blurred the obvious answer while going to the center of the training ground. It became an almost rhetorical question as that was all they were actually doing while Naruto was fighting to get out of genjutsus. After two rounds of sparring and genjutsu training, respectively, they would train individually in ninjutsu: Sasuke with his fire jutsus, Naruto with chakra control, in which he seriously lacked, by the way, and Sakura with genjutsu and medic jutsus. Although they worked somewhat separately, they all took each opportunity to share their progresses and newly discovered ways through which they could improve their training.

"Ready?" Sakura asked, already set in her fighting stance.

"Hn," and the fighting began.

* * *

It wasn't much of it, really, compared to the level at which Itachi fought the one time she'd seen him do it, but each passing day, she could see even the slightest development in both her and Sasuke's skills. Their speed grew significantly, their aim was much more precise and their reflexes sharpened, bringing them to the level of a high-skilled Gennin. Their hands were a blur, making everything around them seem fuzzy, undistinguishable. Despite that, she caught in the corner of her eye a faint trace of black passing by them, which caught her attention enough for Sasuke to punch her in the face.

"Ow,ow,ow!" she cried, holding her bleeding nose. "Why did you do that?".

"I thought you'd dodge," Sasuke shrugged, "Sorry."

…. And the world opened its mouth agape and stared at the young Uchiha.

'Did Sasuke just apologize? To me?' Sakura wondered, gaping at her friend.

'**Yeah, I know. Even I look like a fish on the shore at the moment…'**

"Um, Sakura?"

"Y-Yes?"

"You're drooling."

"Oh, thanks." Guess she held her mouth opened a bit too long.

'Now what was that thing moving around us?' she questioned herself and enhanced her senses in hope of feeling a presence.

'There you go.' Sakura said smiling before trying to put a serious expression on her face.

"You can come out now, Itachi."

As soon as she called it out, the long-haired boy appeared, walking leisurely towards them.

"You get me every time, Sakura. I'm really curious how you manage to do it so easily."

"Haha, what to do? I'm just that talented on my own." Sakura said, smiling sheepishly at him.

"I see." Itachi said, eying her curiously. "I came after Sasuke. Dinner's ready."

"We'll come with you," she said and went to 'wake up' the blond-haired boy so he could join the stroll.

* * *

The four of them were walking slowly towards the Uchiha manor, habit they had whenever Itachi came back from a mission, which, unfortunately, was pretty rarely. She came to actually like Sasuke's stern looking brother and, at times, she would almost forget that he was the same Itachi that in a few months was to slaughter his entire family as a mission. She couldn't even imagine how he pulled it through, how he was able to murder his relatives in such cold blood. If she'd been given such horrifying orders, she would have probably killed herself. Yeah, better her that her entire family.

She'd thought about it more than once and she couldn't ignore the feeling that there was something more about the massacre than the simple fact that it was a mission. Itachi, even though he was a very skilled shinobi and an honorable one as well (at least at the moment), he was still a human being and unless he was crazy, he wouldn't have been able to kill them all, in spite all the laws of being a shinobi. There were some other details to the whole story that she didn't know and she was put on finding them out as soon as possible.

Reaching Sasuke's home, they finally parted, wishing each other good night as the sky was already dark. On her way home, Sakura thought about what was to follow and she couldn't wait for it to happen.

'**Three more days left, ha?'**

'Yeah…' Sakura said, a soft tugging at the corner of her lips. ' Can't wait to see Iruka-sensei and the others.".

* * *

That's it for today, folks! Don't forget to review so that I can scare my parents again with my uncontrollable cries of happiness :D!


	8. Chapter 8

The Burden of Future

~Chapter 8~

Hello, dear fellows! Here is chapter 8! Hope you enjoy! :D

Disclaimer: I stepped on poop today. I don't own Naruto.

* * *

Sakura woke up to the sound of birds trilling sweetly outside her window. Damn birds. Her body was still numb in slumber, her eyes being the only ones aware of the surroundings. Dim rays of sunshine pierced through the curtains and settled on her tired looking face, making the last trace of fatigue fade away. She got up, stretching those sore muscles to their core. She looked around serenely, not a thought crossing her mind. She listened carefully to the lively buzz of the outside world, sound repeatedly interrupted, though, by the soft ticking of her wall clock. She glared at it in hope of making it stop only to realize that she was SO FREAKING LATE!

She jumped in surprise and rushed to the bathroom, tripping three times in the process: once in what seemed like her unfortunate alarm clock smashed to pieces on the ground – she was too tired to turn it off nicely, another elegant misstep was when trying to avoid the tone of scrolls she particularly owned and lastly, she stumble over what seemed like her training gear, dumbed unceremoniously on the ground after her late and more or less draining drills from last night. She rushed through her morning routine and went downstairs to have a quick snack before leaving.

"Mom, why didn't you wake me up?" she asked, her voice muffled from trying to stuff as much food in her mouth as she could.

"What do you mean, honey? You were already out of bed when I went to wake you up. You even told me 'Good morning'!" her mother answered, turning around from preparing the rest of the meal to face her daughter.

'For Kami's sake, don't tell me it happened again…' Sakura thought indignantly, not stopping, though, from eating.

'**Yes indeed it happened.'** Inner tried saying in a serious tone but failing miserably at it as she was trying to hold in her giggling. In the end, she just gave in and Sakura fell off her chair when rages of laughter erupted in her mind all of a sudden.

'What the smurf, Inner? Keep it down! It's not like it's the only time it happened anyways…' she thought, recalling some interesting experiences she'd had in her sleep.

* * *

Her parents were enjoying their cup of coffee on that bright Sunday morning like they always did when they weren't on missions. When their daughter passed the kitchen's door, they told her 'Good morning' like every other day. Only when their daughter didn't answer, although both of them had said it quite loudly, they moved their glance towards the hall, searching for Sakura's figure.

"Sakura? Good morning, darling! Want some breakfast?", her mother shouted, listening carefully to any kind of response that might have come from her daughter. When silence followed her question thoroughly, which happened as often as pigs fly, especially with Sakura, she got up and went the direction which the girl had headed. It seemed her only child went in the backyard, for more training as usual, or that's what she thought. It kind of shocked her seeing her daughter in her night gown trying to jump the fence while crying that she wanted to meet the cowboy that had hanged her baby crocodile.

Another time it happened during the night and she was caught by her father trying to do a split between two armchairs while singing and dancing 'Macarena' like there was no tomorrow.

Troublesome.

When her parents told her all the incidents that had happened in her sleep, she didn't believe them, she couldn't believe them. I mean, what kind of ninjas walk in their sleep doing random stuff around the house? Well, the fact that she sleepwalked was clearly proven when she woke up in a tree with a hand stuck in the pot of grandma's wasabi sauce and the other drawing patterns in her kimono with a kunai, for Kami's sake! She realized it happened especially after a hard session of training, opposite to what you would expect from a tired little kunoichi. Ever since then, she tried concentrating all the major efforts in the morning, so that in the evening she would be rested to go to sleep. Oh, the irony…

* * *

She was walking on the road side by side with her parents, all ready for that important event. In every ninja's life, the first day at the Academy was like their first step ever: then was their true beginning, at that moment could they really start preparing for their future. Sakura was jumping excitedly around her parents, not at all able to control her childish gestures. A few more steps and she would meet her friends, her life-time saviors and she couldn't wait seeing them and finally be near them.

The front yard of the Academy building was unmistakably full, but a feeling of joy washed over her as the yard was full with most familiar faces. It didn't take her long to spot the nervous looking faces of her friends: Ino, who was seemingly excited about everything, Shino, with his inconspicuous image as ever, Choji, with his bags of snacks always present in his hands; later on she noticed Shikamaru, lazily hanging of his father's hand and Hinata hiding right behind her dad, all reddened with emotions. After a while, she more like heard Kiba than seen him as Akamaru's cute bark rang over the crowd, giving away his master's position in an instant.

She met Naruto and Sasuke near the playground, them bickering as always from the most random stuff. After saying goodbye to her parents, Sakura and her two future teammates joined the crowd which was heading inside for the official start of the year.

* * *

She sat down in row with the two boys, winning numerous glances from what seemed like Sasuke's future fangirls. She ignored most of them, knowing as an ex-fangirl that ignorance was the best weapon against such mass of people. Thank Kami she wasn't like that anymore…

As soon as Iruka-sensei entered, though, the class went silent, eager to listen to what their teacher was about to say. Oh, how disappointed they were about to be! After just five minutes into their sensei's speech, everybody had their eyelids in toothpicks, the only way to stay awake being that or talking to a desk mate. Seeing how they didn't have toothpicks, they started chatting with their newly-found friends, this leading, in the end, to Iruka-sensei's infamous outburst that made everybody silent as always.

It felt so good being there again. No invasions, no wars, no death… It was so quiet that she was put on not at all losing those precious years of peace like she did before. She would enjoy them to their fullest and there was nothing to stop her, yeah!

'**Shannaro!'**

'Shut it, Inner, you're ruining the moment.'

* * *

That's all I have for you guys today. Hope you liked it!

Don't forget to review if you have something in mind about this chapter.

See you next time! :D


	9. Chapter 9

The Burden of Future

~Chapter 9~

Hello there, buddies! Chapter 9 is up! Hope you'll enjoy it :D!

Disclaimer:

"What will it be: chocolate cake or ownership over Naruto?"

"CHOCOLATE CAKE, CHOCOLATE CAKE!" (Sorry, guys, I can't help it.)

* * *

"Almost seven years ago, Konoha was attacked by the Kyuubi, the Nine Tailed Beast. Its attack was so powerful that over half of Konoha's force was whipped out while trying to protect the village. In the end, the Forth Hokage, Minato Namikaze, managed to seal the tailed beast, but with the price of his own life. He is remembered as the hero who saved us all, who sacrificed himself for the sake of his village."

'Yeah, for the sake of the village…." Sakura thought bitterly, thinking of the blonde-haired child who had to suffer so much from that unfortunate incident. She didn't exactly remember the attack, her being only a few months old at that time, but she recalls feeling it, feeling that terrifying, suffocating chakra that made every person's heart stop in shock of its accumulated hatred. Simply thinking of that horrifying sensation, that she had felt such long time ago, gave her the chills, her body instantly reacting to that ill-fated reminiscence. Her thoughts were interrupted, though, by the bell, which announced the short break they were to have before the next class. Gathering her belongings, she was ready to go after Naruto and Sasuke, who had gone ahead earlier, but she was mildly surprised when a group of girls stopped in front of her, arms crossed and frowns put on display.

"What do you think you're doing with our Sasuke?" Ino said, unfortunately leading the crowd. It wasn't even a month in the Academy year that she was already infatuated with her raven-haired friend. She didn't remember it happening so fast, but she guessed having missed the battle for the Fanclub President's position, it was meant for this kind of things to happen faster. She would make her grow out of it later, but that wasn't the time yet.

"What happened, cat ate you tongue?" another girl said, proud of her 'witty' comeback.

"Yeah, I'm out of here." Sakura said, wanting to walk away, but being stopped again by the girls.

"Where do you think you're going, Billboard Brow?" Ino said, a mischievous grin on her lips.

'**Oh, damn, she touched your soft spot…'**

'Yeah, better get out of here before I kick their asses for insulting me.'

"Howmuchwoodcouldawoodchuckchuckifawoodchuckcouldchuckwood?"(1)

….

"What?" the girls asked, puzzled.

"Bye, see ya later," and she dashed away, leaving the mob of fangirls baffled at her antics.

"What took you so long?" Sasuke asked when she came running from behind, catching up with them.

"Had to deal with some imaginary ex-s."

* * *

"Your defense is weak of the left side, Naruto," Sakura shouted to her friend while observing the two spar. It became a habit for them to come after school to the training grounds and train together. Even Itachi had shown his pleasure in his brother's obvious progress, which brought a large smile o Sasuke's face as soon as he heard the praise. Naruto was now at high Gennin level in taijutsu, his style being based on power inflicted hits swiftly combined with sudden movements done during attacks to surprise his adversary.

Her blue-eyed teammate had grown so much since they first met: the training made him more patient, more elaborate in his acting, suppressing to a certain level those childish urges he used to have. He was still a loudmouthed individual that sometimes annoyed her to a veeeery large extent, but he still made her smile whenever she was down and he was always beside her when needed.

He was swinging a right-sided blow to Sasuke's cheek, hoping to make the latter give up on his own attack to protect himself. His premonition came to reality, as expected, basing his decision on Sasuke's fast reflexes. As a result, with an obvious opening in his opponent guard, he moved his weight on his left foot and landed a powerful kick in the Uchiha's shin, one that made him stumble and fall to the ground. In the process, though, Sasuke, landing on his hands, made a quick move and swept Naruto off his feet in an instant. The fight ended with Sasuke's close call win and they started gathering all the kunai and shuriken they'd thrown during their training. After everything was put in place, Sakura and Naruto were about to go their way, only to be stopped abruptly by their teammate.

"Wait," Sasuke said, suddenly flustered,"…. Um, Kaa-san wanted to know if you could come over for dinner tomorrow evening… She wanted to meet you, guys, since we're always training together."

"S-Sure, we'll be there." She said, stuttering slightly, which wasn't in her character at all. They parted ways as the sky was already dark and promised to meet tomorrow at the same place for dinner.

* * *

The next day went quickly by, Sakura being overly excited about the whole meal-with-the-Uchiha thing. With her parents being gone on a mission, she was feeling a bit lonely anyways, so she was glad she was invited to the Uchiha Manor. It struck her later on, while she was waiting for the time to come, that that was the perfect opportunity to dig in a little in their family's history. She wasn't planning to be rude, just observant with different situations and boy did she make a good decision!

Ten minutes before dinner time, she left her home, thinking of taking a short promenade to the said neighborhood. Pacing like a shinobi, though, she got there in less than 3 minutes, meeting with Naruto who was waiting for her on the roof. They knock at the door, making their presence known and in no time, hurried steps could be heard coming towards the entrance.

"Oh, good evening! You must be Sasuke's friends. Come in, come in, don't be shy!" Mikoto said, opening the door for them to enter. Returning the greeting politely, they took of their shoes and entered the house.

Mikoto Uchiha was a really beautiful woman, on the outside and on the inside as well. She was one of those people that could smile with their eyes, each glance making the others feel safe and content. Her voice was soft and calm, giving off the feeling that she was truly kindhearted. Although she might have seemed fragile with her petite figure, she wore herself nobly, each gesture having, along that caring touch that her whole being described, a certain trace of authority. She led them to the dining room, that having already been prepared beforehand. Sasuke and Itachi were already there, waiting patiently for the rest to come. Sasuke got up as soon as they entered, them thanking his mother for her kindness. As soon as they sat down, Fugaku Uchiha, Sasuke's father and head of the clan, entered the room. He had a solemn aura surrounding him, his stance prideful but stiff, with an expression bare of emotions. It was pretty clear now who the two brothers resembled. They all sat down at the table and started eating quietly. Sakura could Naruto, in the corner of her eye, trying hardly to seem as mannered as possible, the flustered look on his face, though, giving away his intentions.

They made small talk about their training and such, Mikoto wanting to hear as much about them as she could. As each day was almost the same as the others, they were soon left without a topic to discuss about. Right when the silence started to become awkward, the door opened, revealing three men, three Uchihas from the Konoha Police Force. Itachi and Fugaku went out, leaving the three alone with Sasuke's mother. They could hear their voices from outside, talking calmly at first, then their tone slowly rising as they continued discussing. Mikoto tried distracting us from the fight outside, but we were all too concentrated on it to let it slide. Suddenly, someone screamed and that's when Sasuke opened the door, revealing a crouched Itachi, who had seemingly thrown a kunai at the Uchiha sign on the fence. Hearing Sasuke's voice, he turned around, his Sharingan swirling rapidly in his eyes, somewhat having no control of his actions.

Calming himself down, though, he excused himself and entered the room once more along his father to finish their dinner. As soon as it was over though, Sakura and Naruto said their goodbyes, not wanting to disturb the family anymore.

Sakura, parting with her blonde teammate, was about to go home when she saw a faint shadow leaping on the roofs speedily.

'Itachi…' she thought and she followed him instantly.

She kept quite a distance so that he wouldn't notice her, her only way of tracking him reduced to her chakra sense, activated to its limits. He seemed to head to some old training grounds, isolated from the rest, perfect for bigger jutsus to be practiced. She kept the distance until he landed, but she got closer and closer as soon as she sensed him engage in what seemed like taijutsu training. With her guard up, she was now close enough to see him clearly in the middle of the place, him hitting and kicking the dummy recklessly. His hits were so strong that the logs and the dummies were almost completely destroyed from his powerful punches and the ground around him had slight cracks from the repetitive impacts. She took one step closer to the clearing, but she regretted her action to no end as she stepped on a branch, making a slight noise and giving away her position. In an instant, her body was trapped to the ground, her arms and legs unable to move. She looked up, only to meet the vividly red eyes of the Sharingan staring back at her, the tomoes swirling rapidly. She looked right into them, not afraid of the possible consequences. Her stare was confident, but giving away a sense of comfort and serenity at the same time. The scarlet glance softened after a while and Itachi wanted to stand up to finally free her, but she grabbed him, trapping him and letting him go.

"Sakura?..."

"Itachi, can I ask you a favor?"

"…It depends," the uchiha answered, curiosity clearly present on his face.

"Then," she said, looking him straight in the eyes,"… cast me in Tsukuyomi."

* * *

(1) - How much wood could a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?

I know, I know, you're probably saying 'What the hell?!' at this very moment but don't worry, I have everything planned out. Hope you liked this chapter and don't forget to review! :D

Ja ne!


	10. Chapter 10

The Burden of Future

~Chapter 10~

Hello, friends! Sorry for not posting this chapter sooner, but my Internet was down and, well, you do the math. Anyways, here's chapter 10!

Hope you enjoy! :D

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto? NOOOOOOO! I thought I did….

* * *

"Cast me in Tsukuyomi." Sakura said, a determined expression on her face. Itachi looked at her, mildly surprised by her request but otherwise not showing any emotion.

" Why?" was his direct, single-worded question, which was exactly what Sakura didn't want to hear.

'**So you were hoping he would use his best technique on you just 'cause you asked him to?'**

'Kinda…'

"I need to show you something," she answered, looking him straight in the eyes.

"What do you have for me to be interested in?" Itachi said, rising an eyebrow slightly.

"…It's about the clan… and you."

She wasn't surprised when his eyes widened in shock at what she was actually referring to.

"Don't move," he said and the tomoes in his eyes started swirling rapidly. Seconds after, she was frozen in place, terrified, but at the same time relieved that he hadn't cut her throat the moment she referred to the massacre.

Her vision blurred slightly, a sense of nausea washing over her but that soon ended as she finally woke up to see her surroundings. All could have been described as nothing and everything at the same time. It looked like they were floating in the air, as masses of steam were all around them, but they were also standing on solid ground. The… atmosphere was somewhat reddish, the air, or whatever that was, being quite chill and heavy. She couldn't quite describe it, but she couldn't exactly feel…there. Her skin was numb and it reminded her of that feeling when you stay with hands too much in the snow and they seem to have lost all their senses. She was standing still, not because she was afraid necessarily, but also because she didn't need to move. If she wished to look a certain direction, she would immediately see it, without moving at all. Feeling a slight shift in the air, she sensed Itachi's presence not far away from her. She moved forward, or more like flew forward, until she met the Uchiha. He was standing a few feet in front of her, his eyes, still crimson, set on her.

"What about the clan?", he asked calmly, completely different from his hasty self from before.

"T-There is something I have to explain to you first…" Sakura hesitated, not knowing how she should put it. "You see, I've been having these dreams…" she started of slowly, studying his expression.

"Dreams that sometimes got repeated and dreams that sometimes were singular, unique, a one-time deal, like the one I had last night… I've come to realize that every time I had a dream that I'd never had before, it would come true, to the slightest detail…" she said, stopping momentarily as she saw a slight squint in the boy's eyes. It was really risky what she was doing at that moment, but she couldn't back away now.

"I've dreamed about Shisui's death," she said and she caught him tensing a little,"… I've dreamed about you becoming ANBU…" and again, Itachi reacted, his hand almost moving to his kunai pouch.

"…and, of course, I've dreamt about the massacre."

If she hadn't known it happening, she probably wouldn't have reacted in time, despite all her training. In a fraction of second, he grabbed a kunai and sped right towards her, the weapon to her throat. She was now motionless, with a kunai right under her jawline, but with one in her hand as well, pointing directly to Itachi's heart. He was looking at her fiercely, his hands trembling as he tried hard to contain his feelings.

"You know you're not supposed to know this things…" he said, the threat clearly present in his voice,"What good did you do by telling me?".

She stared back at him, not even flinching under his powerful glare.

"Not much, actually. Just wanted to see the expression of that someone who'll make my friend and teammate go crazy with revenge in hopes of killing him."

She expected him to be surprised, to be shocked at the fact that she knew so many secrets that a 7 year old child was not at all supposed to know, but he wasn't. More than that, she could actually see, after a while, his expression turning into one of realization and relief before his gaze fell upon her one more time. He seemed to be hesitating over something but then it seemed he finally made the decision.

"Okay." Itachi said, Sakura totally taken aback by his answer. "I understand you're telling the truth, but I need to see if all of it is true."

"What do you mea…."but she didn't get to finish her answer as an unimaginable pain shot through her head, making her scream and cringe in agony.

"Don't fight back…" she heard Itachi's faint voice ringing in her ears and so she did. She would have done anything, really, if it got rid of that unbearable throbbing in her head. Few moments later it was over and she fell to the ground, panting heavily and still holding her head tightly. It had been a real shock for her to experience something so painful in such a short period of time. She got up, still wobbly on her feet and looked at Itachi only to be totally taken aback by the view in front of her. Images of her memories, of her life till then were passing slowly right in front of her eyes, every moment that had been thoroughly recorded in her brain flashing lively there and then for Itachi to see. But that wasn't the problem. Oh, not at all. The big, the huge, the enormous problem was that not only her present life was showing, but her past life as well. It was a technique, an extremely painful one as well, that revealed one's memories and that's exactly what was happening at that moment. She watched in horror as images of those clandestine events were passing in front of the Uchiha's eyes, images like the Konoha Invasion, Sasuke as Orochimaru's student, the 4th Shinobi War, images of her dying and being born again…

She stood there, frozen in place not even daring to look at his face.

'Damn it, damn it, damn it! This wasn't supposed to happen!'

She waited for a reaction, any reaction to come from Itachi, but none did. After a whole minute spent in utter silence, she jolted when he finally muttered:

"Thank Kami…" he said and looked her straight in the eyes, a faint smile appearing on her lips."… you're the same," and with a swift hand gesture in front of him, he made Sakura speechless. His own memories appeared, flashing brightly in front of her eyes, all together with what seemed like the future. That only future that she knew too well, that only destiny she knew for her dearest ones. She got up and rushed to them, trying to convince herself she wasn't seeing well.

"T-This can't be…" Sakura said, shuffling through them, the truth being harder and harder to deny.

"You-You're…" she stuttered, too shocked to even talk properly.

"Yes," Itachi said, smirking at her antics," I'm a reincarnation as well."

* * *

She stood staring at him, not ready to grasp the fact itself. Her nonexistent thoughts were interrupted, though, by a sudden shout, but more like a gleeful shout coming from behind her. Turning around, she saw herself, or, better said, another Sakura, pop out of nowhere and start running around in happiness.

"Inner?!" Sakura came to realize, looking at her other-self embarrassing her. "When did you come out?"

"Few moments ago, when you were too distracted with Uchiha's memories. Oh, hi, Itachi!" she waved joyfully at him.

"Hi," he said, a slight tint of amusement present in his voice.

"Inner, go back to your place." Sakura said, pointing towards, well, towards nothing.

"Oh, come oooooon! I just got here!" Inner whined, being her first time to taste the freedom of having her own body. "Can't you let me 5 more minutes?"

"…."

"Pleeeeaaaaseeee?"

"…."

"Pretty please?"

"Three minutes, go."

"Yeeeeeyy," she said and she fled.

"Damn, kids these days…" she said before turning towards Itachi. "Um, that's uh… me."

"Double personality?"

"Kind of."

"Can't judge."

"Now, about uh…"

"Yes," he confirmed,"… I'm also a reincarnation."

They both stood silent, not sure what to say. Sakura pondered over the facts, over the odds of this happening.

'It truly is luck what we're having.'

"How did you know I was a reincarnation?" she asked, curious about what had given her away.

"If you were really having dreams about the future," Itachi responded," You wouldn't have known Sasuke's feelings, as your premonitions would have been based only on images."

'Oh…'she thought, mildly surprised at his sense of observation.

"Did you…change anything?" she asked shyly, not really wanting to put that question, but in need of changing the subject.

"Not exactly," he retorted simply, "Nothing really important has happened up until now for me to change."

"Ah, I understand….So, what are your plans for the future?" Sakura said with a bitter smile.

"Let's get out of here first. My chakra is almost done with this genjutsu, we have to get out of it."

"Wait, this isn't Tsukuyomi?" Sakura asked bewildered.

"No," he answered," It would have damaged my eyes too much as they aren't used to it yet."

"Ah, right," and both of them disrupted their chakra flow to finally be in reality.

They woke up staring at the darkened sky, dimly lit by the moon's light. It was already night outside and the cockroaches had already started their peaceful melody in the fresh air of the night. They were laying on their backs on the cold hard ground, their hands brushing the already damp strands of grass.

"So," Itachi started and Sakura met his gaze," You've been having bad dreams?".

"Wha.. Oh, that." she realized, flustered," What was I supposed to say? That I have a kekkei genkai that lets me see the future?... Actually, that might have been a better idea…".

She laughed at her foolish mistake and she could swear she had seen a small smile on the Uchiha's lips.

"You asked me if I have changed anything," he said suddenly, changing the subject,"… What about you?"

"Me? Only small things compared to what I plan for the future," she murmured and sent him a look, "Want to share?".

"Hn," and so they started talking about the said future and the priorities in what had to be changed about it.

* * *

"We've got lots of work to do…" Sakura whispered, her face blank after the discussion she'd had with Itachi.

"Might as well start it," he said and looked her direction.

"Yeah," Sakura murmured, a determined look on her face, " Let's save the world."

* * *

That's it for today, guys!

Here's a thought: I'm gonna have a poll put on my profile so that you can decide whether you want me to post short chapters on a daily basis, or if you want me to do it once a few days, but with a longer one. Let me know about it and have a nice day :D!


	11. Chapter 11

The Burden of Future

~Chapter 11~

Hello, my beloved readers! I know, I know, I haven't really written anything for the past month and, if you've read my profile, you already know the reason. Now, let's skip the chat and go straight to the point, shall we?

Enjoy! :D

Disclaimer: I definitely don't own Naruto. If I did, Temari would have been a boy and Neji, a pervert. Oh, pity…

* * *

'Breathe,' Sakura kept telling herself as her breathing became more and more hectic with each passing moment. Streams of sweat were flowing freely on her neck and forehead, the small drops reaching her eyes and making it hard for her to see.

'Breathe…' she insisted, forcing herself to regularize her hastened intake of air, but failing miserably in the end.

"DAHH, the Hell with it!" and she dashed full speed ahead of her, not caring a bit by the fact that she was now as loud as an engine in use. She leaped on the roof, the rush of adrenaline giving her a last boost of energy, making the soreness disappear and get her all excited, enough to let her reach her limit. It was a good thing the others couldn't see her face as she would have scared the poop out of them with her unique expression. She was grinning widely and wildly, almost like a predator seeing its prey cornered, only she wasn't really hunting something, she was just a little more hyped from her run than usual.

Sakura stopped near her neighborhood, wanting to walk the streets for a while before going back to work. After the unexpected discussion had with Itachi two days before, she had been spending quite some time thinking about the next few steps they were more or less set on making. She had doubted it at first, she had almost regretted it happening, that being her revealing her secrets to none other than the infamous Uchiha prodigy. She had played and replayed the scene in her head multiple times, trying to spot any suspicious behavior coming from Itachi, but she didn't see anything. Although it all seemed quite legit, she couldn't trust him, at least not yet. It was too risky giving his highly advanced abilities in masking his emotions and in making detailed plans on the spot. She couldn't be sure about those memories, either, as it all happened in her mind and it could have easily been a genjutsu. Despite all that though, she had to try. After almost 5 years of planning and thinking about the changes to be made, she was a little bit reticent about it, even now.

Actually, she was scared, no, terrified of what was next for her and the others. How the heck was she supposed to stop all that!? The odds of her succeeding on her own were so small that she couldn't do anything but admit that she needed Itachi's help, whatever his initial reason might have been. Plus, she couldn't do without him in the first few parts of the plan, especially when it came to what they were already working on.

'I really hope it will be okay…' she said to herself, thinking about their secret mission that was already going.

She jumped on the balcony of her house, from there leaping directly into her cozy little room. She took a shower, changed her clothes and put her books in her bag, ready to get out again.

"Time for school…" she said to herself, going the direction of the Academy.

* * *

The boys kept kicking and hitting, trying to get the upper hand in their usual session of sparring. Their limbs were a total blur, the only thing distinguishable in that extended mass of shades being those two constantly moving spots of gold and pure obsidian, inevitably identified as her best friends' heads. She watched all their movements: their aim, their defense, their attack, the improvement being clearly seen one her two beloved subjects. It was almost three months since they had been training together and she'd enjoyed every moment of them. The time spent with them became more and more valorous as she tried as much as possible to teach them certain values, certain unwritten laws regarding their future life as a shinobi, so that, if she wasn't around, they could deal at least a little better with the situations they were bond to be in.

Finding herself in a daze, she looked back to her boys, only to notice that it had got quite dark outside all that time she had been meditating.

"Oh, I almost forgot!" Sakura said, jumping on her feet. "Naruto, Sasuke, got to go! See you guys tomorrow!"

"Aa," the dull answers came, the two boys being way too concentrated on the fight to give her more attention than that.

'Pff… and to think I've sacrificed my whole afternoon to teach them that chakra trick.'

She jumped on the rooftops, seemingly going the direction of her house, but changing course as soon as she was out of her teammates' sight. She was heading towards the same old training grounds where the whole incident had happened, expecting to meet Itachi, as promised. That was decided as being their meeting point from then on in hopes of being more at ease with training and planning as such. She reached the side of the forest, entering it without hesitation. Her feet where a little numb from training and she wasn't concentrating aswell as she used to as she was suffering from mild chakra depletion from her previous training.

'Hope it's okay without my chakra sense…' she thought, carefully scanning the area before stopping the constant flow of chakra signals sent to her surroundings. Although she could still detect presences even without them, she had to cut off the chakra used to extend and sharpen her sense as she could already feel the fatigue creeping through her body, weakening it bit by bit.

"Phew, got to sit down for a bit…" she said, reaching the clearing of the said training ground. She could already see Itachi sitting leisurely on a log on the side, most definitely waiting for her. Sakura walked to him and sat down beside him, both looking at the clear sky already darkened and starry.

"Did you speak to Shisui?" Sakura asked, breaking the silence. She kept her gaze on the stars, waiting patiently for his answer.

"Yes," he said and silence once more settled.

"Did he accept it?..." Sakura asked, anxious about the possible response.

"… No," Itachi said, his voice quiet with a tint of disappointment in it.

"The heck with it!" Sakura said, suddenly enraged at the boy's final answer. "Doesn't he know he'll die if he doesn't do something?" she said, her voice getting louder as she got up, pacing around in anger.

"Sakura…" Itachi said, trying to calm her down.

"This way, it's almost sure Danzo will have his way," she said looking at her feet, thinking about their plan. Her thoughts were interrupted, though, by a sudden shift in the air coming from towards the forest. She looked around, catching a trace of chakra in the air.

"I'm sorry." a voice behind her said.

"Wha..." but she didn't get to finish her question as a sharp pain erupted at the base of her neck, making everything around her turn black as she was falling unconscious on the ground.

* * *

This is all I have for today, my friends. A school is starting next week, with all its homework and lengthy lessons to be learnt by heart, I decided it would be best if I updated once a week, of course, with a much longer chapter than usual. I wouldn't have time to do otherwise, anyway, but I'll try my best to update as I'm really starting to like writing this story! Don't forget to review if you have anything to tell me and, well, thanks for reading ;D!


	12. Chapter 12

The Burden of Future

~Chapter 12~

Hello, people! Here is the twelfth chapter of my so-to-speak first story ever.

Enjoy! :D

Disclaimer: I was 2 years old when Naruto first started. God, I must have been a genius to write such a story.

* * *

"I'm sorry," he said, the words leaving his mouth automatically. He placed two fingers right below her skull and sent a rapid, short amount of chakra into her nervous system. He saw her pained expression, followed by one full of confusion and, at the same time, an unexploited sort of betrayal, almost like she was expecting it to happen. Well, that hurt his pride. He was so nicely trying to save her from spilling out their entire plan and that was her response. He caught her by the arm right before she touched the ground and, after stabilizing her weight center, he fled in the trees, the girl hanging at his side.

Right before Sakura's outburst started, he'd sensed a presence coming at a hastened pace towards them, with its chakra discretely hidden. He wanted to tell her to stop her ranting for a moment so that the ANBU, as it was definitely one of them, could pass without noticing them too closely. Despite his warning, though, she started saying even more dangerous details to her unknown public and, as the shinobi was at the border of his hearing range, he had to stop her before going any further.

It seemed she was still a child in her own way. Indeed, having to be aware of what you say and to protect yourself in the middle of the ones you trust and love was one difficult thing to do, painful even. Although she'd been through war and she'd lived through many betrayals and devious plans of others, she was still oblivious to her surroundings when it came to her own village, to her very home, actually. He'd never had that feeling of sacred faith and complete loyalty to a certain matter as she did, but he still understood her instance. Despite it being a wonderful feeling to be owned by a human being, she had to give up on it if she wanted to complete her mission. In actuality, she had to give up on it, as if she didn't, she would soon have her second encounter with death.

Itachi heard her slow-paced breathing coming evenly in and out her lungs, her exhausted state making her fall into a deep slumber on his shoulder. It was quite unnerving as she kept tugging at his arm, her action precisely followed by rows of unintelligible words and phrases. He crossed the village silently, remaining in the shadows most of the time to not distract attention. He landed on her house's roof, starting to feel that, even though Sakura was only seven years old, she was still quite heavy to hold in just one arm. He laid her down on the roof tiles, putting her down gently so she wouldn't wake up.

He stepped back, ready to leave it as it was as he too had matters to solve and deal with. He turned around and jumped agilely on the other roof, his ninja dexterity making it thoroughly silent to the others. After a few moments in his run towards home, he felt a strong, freezing blast of wind hitting his cheek, making few hair strands rise on the back of his neck. It was one of those chilly nights of March, one in which winter makes its last appearances and that night was no exception. He pulled at his top, the cold slowly creeping through the fabric and making him shiver the slightest. A rapid thought crossed his mind, one that referred to a certain rosette who he'd left on top of the roof to sleep on such weather. He had no other choice but to return, the temptation to continue his way being overcome as another powerful blast of wind hit his frame, making him realize the cold Sakura might catch if she slept under the night sky at such a time.

He rushed to her house and, upon reaching his destination, he saw his target casually stretching into a more comfortable position on the tiled surface of the roof. If he had truly left her sleeping out there, she would have definitely remained in the same spot, not really sensing the difference in temperature highly supported by her already numb body. Before actually taking her to her bed, he went scouting, looking down the windows to see which one exactly was her room. The house seemed empty, her parents probably on another mission and, thus, leaving her by herself.

This kind of circumstances was quite often met when speaking of families of ninjas: with both parents on duty, the child was frequently left alone at home, that, of course, being when the child was of a certain age. Shifting the draperies of a window, he discovered a one-person bed with a white, puffy cover on top. The walls, all painted in a dim shade of beige, were covered in seals, maps and sketches of some kind, defining precisely the owner of that room. He climbed back the house, wanting to take her inside and he did it in time, it seemed: Sakura, in her unnerving little dream, had already rolled down the roof's surface, reaching its border and now hanging dangerously off of it. Rushing towards her, he grabbed her hand right before falling and, putting an arm under her knees, took her down and into her room to finally put her in bed. Placing her gently on the sheets and covering her with a blanket, he noticed her peaceful expression now that no worries crossed her mind, especially one in particular, which she had heard about not long ago. It was indeed a hit Shisui's refusal and they had to come up with a new plan about it as soon as possible, but he would leave it as it was at that moment as he didn't want to ruin her tight sleep.

'Sweet dreams,' he thought to himself, heading towards the window to let the girl behind him enjoy one of her last nights of sweet slumber.

* * *

That's all for now, guys! I know this one seemed a little bit one-sided, but I had to make some variation in my way of writing, so here it is, the chapter where nothing important actually happens! :D

Anyways, hope you enjoyed it! Have a really really nice day! (or night, I don't know…).


	13. Chapter 13

The Burden of Future

~Chapter 13~

Hello, people! It seems that writing has become an important part of my life as I just can't wait for the weekend to write my chapter. Here it is, number 13 in our count up for the story. Hope you enjoy!

* * *

Disclaimer: To own or not to own, that is the question!

P.S: The answer is "No", by the way…

* * *

"Hang in there, Naruto," she shouted, her hands pressing repeatedly on her friend's chest, trying to get his heart pumping again. His body was thorn, the image of it making her cringe at the pain he must've felt before collapsing. Teardrops were falling one by one on the back of her hands, confirming her utmost fear.

"Come on, Naruto! Be strong!". The words were already filled with grief, her voice breaking bit by bit. She was putting her last bit of chakra into healing her teammate's wounds, her skin burning from overusing it. Despite all that, though, she already knew it coming: she saw her friend's eyes slowly close and his body falling into slumber.

'Oh no…'

"Narutoooo!" she screamed and finally woke up.

* * *

She was sweating daggers when she woke up all of a sudden. Her uneven breaths came in and out her lungs at a rapid pace, the adrenaline still pumping vividly in her blood. Her throbbing head made even the last hope of going back to sleep disappear, seeing how it was still completely dark outside. It seemed her nightmares had come back again. It was almost a year since she'd had the last one, but all the past events couldn't be forgotten so easily. It made her heart falter in the pain she'd felt only a few years before. Or, who knew, maybe the pain she was to feel in a few years from then…

She got up and, although her whole body was sore with her previous training, she was able to almost immediately feel the sharp pain still present at the base of her skull. She had almost forgotten where she had got that hit, but her memory of the past few hours came back in an instant as soon as she thought about it, Itachi's gesture and its reasons making her headache get more and more painful. It took her a few moments to finally tense, her breath stopping in her throat. Damnit, how did she forget about it?

If he had lied the whole time, of course he would have got her to the ANBU to investigate her thoroughly. She expanded her senses in hope of getting any loops in the chakra around her, sign of genjutsu being put on her surroundings. Scanning the room, though, she couldn't detect any abnormal activity in the flow of chakra around her and, when it came to her, although her reserves were still yet to be full, it all seemed fine and dandy.

"I'm thinking too much about it," Sakura came to a conclusion, making herself comfortable again in the warmth of her bed. The sun had yet to rise, so why bother staying up? She closed her eyes, feeling her body relax into a deep slumber.

Half an hour later, she was staring at the ceiling of her room, suddenly frustrated at the dogs around the neighborhood.

"What the heck is wrong with them?" she kept talking to herself while trying to stuff something, anything in her ears so she could finally sleep. She was rolling around uncontrollably, her feet completely tangled in the bedcover Itachi had put on her the previous day.

"Argh, this won't do!" she said, finally losing her temper. She jumped out of her bed and rushed to her bathroom. If she couldn't sleep, she could, at least, put that time to use.

Changing her training gear and splashing cold water on her face, she went downstairs, aiming for the backyard as her training ground for that day (or night, whatever that might've been…). It seemed completely normal to her the fact that she had woken up in her bed, completely dressed and with no memory of going back whatsoever. Yes, it actually was normal to her, considering her unmistakable sleepwalking…

* * *

She stepped on the cool surface of the ground and took a deep breath of the fresh night air. She closed her eyes and stood still for a couple of minutes, actually feeling her surroundings. After that ended, she slowly put her hands together in front of her, forming the infamous Ram sign and waited.

If one had eyes to see everything around to the slightest detail, it would have been clear to that person the training Sakura was doing at that moment. Expanding her range, she was letting her chakra leak out of her system, but not totally free. It looked like she had tied the energy to herself, the bluish strings flowing away from her body, but not parting with it. As time passed, Sakura's surrounding became like a spider's net, its supporting points being all the things around her. After stabilizing it, Sakura waited a bit to get a better grip of it and, then, all of a sudden, they started moving, moving frenetically around her, clashing into small flashes of white and blue and, in the end, sticking to every object in the near vicinity. Making another small pause, Sakura then started to pull, to pull all her chakra to herself, but, along with it, the rest of the chakra around her. It came to her like she would have been its rightful owner, not showing the slightest sign of it being forcefully pulled in.

She came up with this idea a couple of weeks ago, or, better said, this idea came to her without any notice. She was drying her hair patiently, going slowly not to, somewhat, make it tangle again. After drying it, she started combing it and combed it and combed it…. She must have really been in a daze back then as she kept grooming her hair for over half an hour, resulting, in the end, with a bunch of electrified strands of hair. From that point on, it all became worse. The hair kept sticking to her hands and, in her try to get rid of it, she got her comb stuck so badly that she had to wet her hair all over again to get it out. Anyways, while trying to get the object out of her hair, she thought about the effect produced on the hair by the constant movement going on so, in that very second, it came to her like nothing else did: what if she used it with chakra?

At first, it was only an experiment but, when a flying book came straight to her face, she had found, without a doubt, a new use to chakra. As said before, at first, she could attract only objects, but, in time, she started to get familiarized with the concept and, a few days ago, she pulled her first strings of external chakra.

* * *

She was now almost over with the complicated procedure, her chakra, as well as the one taken from around her, was almost completely in her body, only the one being absorbed around her right hip finding itself still outside her body.

Despite her efforts though, she was getting tired. Sweat was prickling on her forehead and flowing freely on her face and neck. She knew she couldn't get it all in her body, so she had to hurry into getting it all out as soon as possible. The two chakras being tightly connected, they could be separated both inside and outside the body, with the exception of being on the same side entirely. As she had already experienced before, if she didn't do that, the sudden break between the chakras would tear her body, exactly like an object coming from inside out of her. Rushing in the process, she managed to get most of the external chakra out, but it only needed a split of a second for her to lose control and that's exactly what happened: the exhaustion that had installed much faster than usual, made her lose the grip had over the web of chakra and, thus, get herself a deep gash around her abdomen, which, in no time, started bleeding heavily.

"Ouch! Kami, not again…" she moaned, trying to stop the bleeding with her remaining chakra. Almost immediately, she heard a rustle in the trees behind her and rushed steps coming towards her.

"You're becoming more and more of a stalker, Itachi," she said, a smirk tugging at her lips.

"Well, it seems it's quite a good thing, considering your state," he answered, kneeling beside her.

"Nothing special, really. You should've seen me two weeks ago. It looked like a smaller Niagara Falls coming out of my guts." She said laughing at herself, but, at the same time, her face getting paler.

"…Say," she said after a while, having already healed the wound,"… what exactly happened last night?".

"Oh, that… Well, an ANBU was rushing towards us and you were shouting out loud some things that might have got us killed. I did the only thing I could've thought of to stop you at that moment." He said, his sarcastic words not matching at all with his indifferent expression.

"Hahah, good boy, Itachi, good boy…" she said and passed out on the ground from the sudden blood loss.

"Here we go again…" Itachi sighed, already lifting the girl's body off the ground to carry her once more to her bedroom.

* * *

That's it for today, friends! I'll come back with another one next week! Don't forget to review as those comments are what keeps me alive, un! :D


	14. Chapter 14

The Burden of Future

~Chapter 14~

Hello, people! Sorry for not updating but I had food poisoning and a mild cold at the same time and I realized it's kind of hard to write when you're emptying your stomach in the toilet! :D

Anyways, as I've finally got better, I decided I should celebrate this moment with chapter 14, now freshly baked out of my mind.

Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I'm terrible at drawing manga. I don't like orange. I don't like pink. You do the math.

* * *

Her limbs were a total blurr as she tried to find an opening in her teammate's defense, who, matter-of-factly, had started to finally get her tricks and ways of subtly attacking. Sasuke's stance and level of taijutsu had improved immensely in those few months since they'd been training: not only did he start to actually combine his moments of incursion with highly defensive positions, but he had also got the ability to suddenly change his direction in midair, confusing the bunny out of his opponents. Not wanting to seem too effective in her fighting techniques, she sometimes let it slide, taking the hits a seven year old like herself would not have been able to deflect.

"Ouch," she huffed, falling ceremoniously on her butt after her face met with Sasuke's fist.

"Hm, you seem a little bit rusty lately, don't you?" the rave-haired boy said, a cocky smile strongly plastered on his face. "I might as well be even bet…".

"Ano, Sakura-chaaan!", Naruto cried from aside, interrupting the Uchiha's speech of self-praise. "When is my turn? I want to fight you too!"

"Well, aren't I beloved around here…" Sakura scoffed under her breath, clearly understanding the fact that the blonde just wanted to kick her ass as well so he wouldn't be any weaker than Sasuke. She tried to get up so she could offer her friend the opportunity to fulfill his sudden wish, but it was like her leg had fallen asleep as she tripped in it, colliding with the ground once again.

"Argh, for the love of Kami!" she cried as she felt the sharp pain of a badly twisted ankle erupt in her left leg. She grabbed it in an unconscious need to stop the sudden ache, but all she did was to give a good squeeze to the already swollen joint, making the sting almost unbearable.

"MMHMMMHM!" she screamed with her mouth closed to stop the long series of profanities that kept crossing her mind at that very moment.

"Sakura, are you okay?" the two boys said in unison, rushing towards her the moment she collapsed.

"NO, I'm perfectly fine! I just have this urge at times to scream my lungs out while holding onto my leg tightly. It's almost like a RITUAL!" the rosette shouted as she started to slowly put to use her infamous green chakra.

"Sasuke, even her ironic-self came out! It seems it really hurts this time!" Naruto said, now using his teammate as a shield form Sakura's possible wittiness.

"Come on, let's help her out," Sasuke said trying to lift her off the ground, but was forcefully pushed away, feeling the bit of chakra enhanced power Sakura had when full of wrath.

"Yeah, we better leave her alone for now."

* * *

"Sorry for hitting you earlier," Sakura said meekly, sitting next to her hurting friend as they were resting together on the bench near the training grounds they had been using.

"Don't worry, I can manage it," the young Uchiha said, shifting slightly in his seat as he was still rubbing slightly at his guts.

The three stood motionless next to each other, staring blankly at the clouds passing rapidly over their tilted heads. Each of them had the most various thoughts crossing their minds, but only Sakura's were filled with pure concern and nervousness.

'**It's tonight, isn't it?**' the voice in her head asked rhetorically, the gravity of it cutting off the usual humor that her Inner was so fond of.

'Mhm, I think it already started', she thought, looking at the sun spreading its last rays of sunshine over the village of Konoha.

That very day was D-Day in her and Itachi's plan. Not only was it of crucial importance in itself, but it was also the conscious start to the long inevitable chain of murders and betrays and wars that were to come in the next 10 years of their life. She smiled to herself, pondering over the irony of the situation. This in itself was a murder, a complete genocide actually, considering the number of victims that came as a terrible, but necessary consequence. They've tried lying to themselves into believing that the Uchiha massacre could actually be avoided, but in the end, the only thing left was to accept the fact thoroughly. It didn't depend on them. Of course, Itachi was indeed the one to have his hands stained with his own family's blood, but, if he wasn't the one to do it, they would have found somebody else to and, of course, they would have definitely killed him in the end.

She looked at the raven haired boy beside her, who was already sleeping with his eyes opened from the intense training they've been through. As soon as she saw his peaceful appearance, though, she turned her gaze to hide a sudden wetness that had taken over her forest green eyes. It wasn't fair; it wasn't fair at all that he was the one to suffer the most from this stupid political conflict. It only took her a moment to recall the radical changes that he had suffered in her previous life and she felt restless, almost frightened at the thought that he could become the same again.

'But not this time round,' she told herself confidently, trying to overcome the sudden feelings flooding her in her uneasy state of being.

This time round, she knew what was to be done so that her teammate would live a normal life, without the urges of an avenger flowing through his veins.

* * *

The sun had already set and the three were still staying on the bench quietly, Sakura, in some sort of waiting stance for everything to end and Naruto, together, with Sasuke, because they couldn't really get up…

Seeing how, after a few minutes of resting, Sasuke wanted to go home, she quietly decided that that wasn't the most valid option, especially at that time, so she did the only possible thing to stop him without rising any suspicions. She sent a sudden shot of chakra through his nervous system and knocked him down without hesitation and, as she didn't want Naruto as a witness, she did the same to him.

She waited few more minutes, silently counting the seconds until her part in the plan would come. She got up, cracking her joints in a relaxed stretch, preparing both physically and mentally for what was to come. She grabbed the two bodies still limp on the bench and put them steadily on her shoulders, limbs dangling at her sides. She had to drop Naruto at his place and then came the difficult part of it all: facing the massacre at Sasuke's house.

It only took her a minute to reach the neighborhood in which Naruto lived, the same one infamous for the poor behavior had towards her much-loved friend and teammate. She slowly opened the window to his apartment, the glass sliding soundly in the process, probably waking every single sleeping being in the building. Not that there were many anyway… She put the blond haired boy in his bed and covered him with the same green blanket he had had for ages. Putting his head comfortably on the pillow, she looked at the peaceful expression on the boy's face and barely contained herself from caressing his whiskers marked cheek.

"Sleep well, Naruto. I'm going to need your cheerful self tomorrow. A lot…."

* * *

As she was getting closer and closer to the Uchiha compound, the air kept getting thicker and thicker, not only with the horrifying metallic scent of freshly poured blood, but also with the unavoidable feeling of death that hung ominously in it. She shifted Sasuke's weight in her arms, her grasp unconsciously getting tighter on her friend's limp body. She didn't need to wait too long for a certain mysterious figure to appear standing threateningly on the pole, crouching slightly while still holding the katana in his hand. His presence there was the only thing she needed. She formed a clone and, after putting Sasuke in its care, she dashed towards Sasuke's house, knowing that if she didn't hurry, their whole plan might have completely failed. Entering the Uchiha neighborhood, she ran by the tens of lifeless bodies scattered on the road, the horrifying images not slowing her down despite the sudden shock and utter fright she felt as soon as she saw them.

Reaching the said house, she didn't falter at all and entered it without hesitation, knowing that the faster she moved, the better everything would turn out. She passed the main hall and searched for the infamous room which Sasuke would have entered if it wasn't for her to distract him. Finding the two unmoving bodies of a certain Uchiha's parents, her medic-nin instincts kicked in and, rushing towards them, she started checking their vitals and repairing tissue after tissue.

Although she'd tried her best to save Fugaku Uchiha, it seemed the sudden gash got to his throat was too deep to be even considered as reversible. Making the painful decision of leaving him behind, she turned to Mikoto and started working on her fervently, her hands, glowing with pale green chakra never stopping to check, to stitch, to repair. After almost half an hour, she managed to bring her to a stable state, not totally healing her wounds so that it wouldn't be suspicious the fact that Itachi had indeed tried to kill her. As soon as she finished, though, she eliminated the last bit of evidence of her presence there and ran away from there as fast as her legs could carry her, not even wanting to look back again. She stopped next to Sasuke's figure, who was still asleep in the arms of her clone. She took him gently in her arms, dispelling the clone in the process. It was over.

* * *

Sitting on a bench at the entrance in the village, she was holding tightly at her friend's body, her mind too empty, her eyes too dry to even cry her fear and sadness away. It wouldn't be long until the corpses of almost the entire Uchiha clan would be found in the literal pool of blood Itachi has left them.

She thought about him and the ultimate sacrifice he had to make in order for others to live in peace and quiet. In spite all the training a shinobi does through his life and all the experience he gets through his missions, nothing can really prepare one for such an emotional impact as the one Itachi was probably still feeling at that moment. She knew he was now probably far away from the village, already in search of Akatsuki to stabilize his state as a missing-nin, but she couldn't keep herself from hoping to see him one last time, to at least look him in the eyes to know if he would be okay, if he would manage to pass with flying colors this horrifying test of life.

A rustle in the trees behind her told her that her wish had suddenly become true. Turning around slowly, she noticed in an instant the crimson pair of Sharingans staring back at her from the shadows of the forest. A soft, reassuring smile appeared on her lips when she saw his gaze fall on his brother, still asleep in her arms. He was fine. Thank God, he was fine…

"Take care of him", he said, his stare not leaving his sibling's figure, not even for a moment.

"I will," Sakura said and watched him slowly turn around to set on leaving.

"Itachi?" she called one last time, not wanting to part with him after all that happened.

"…Yes?"

"…. Don't forget it."

"…I won't."

* * *

And done! :D I'm so happy I finally managed to write this chapter; it was like a last obstacle I had to pass in order to actually continue the story. Hope you guys will enjoy it and, well, see you next time!


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